Reflecting India’s wisdom, diversity in a new light

Film directors Anurag Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra during the release function of five short films commissioned by the Ministry of External Affairs in the Capital earlier this week. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Ministry of External Affairs has released five short films for its first web campaign “India is..”

To present India in its myriad forms, including as custodian of knowledge, an emerging modern Information Technology nation and a land where people of different denominations have been living in harmony for centuries, the Publicity Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs has released five short films produced by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap for its first web campaign “India is..”.

Describing the campaign which has completed three successful international challenges as unusual but efficacious, Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said it was not just celebration of India but also the celebration of the youth of this country.

“We know there are great responsibilities and challenges to the demographic changes of young India. We are an ancient civilization of which we are extremely proud of and want to show to the rest of the world,” Mr. Khurshid said at the launch function in the Capital on Monday.

The Minister said the young generation was subscribing to the principle of keeping the windows and doors open to the winds of change by efficaciously using the social networking sites.

“Earlier, our knowledge was limited to the education we had received in schools and colleges but now we have discovered that learning does not end after passing out from educational institutions,” he said.

Launched in 2011 with support of “Incredible India”, the digital initiative campaign invited a global audience to share their experience and perceptions about what exactly India represents through a series of creative, digital challenges focusing on the values and culture of the country.

India is.. has given innumerable people from across the country and even Indophiles, who despite living abroad have travelled to Indian cities, an opportunity to express what they perceive of the country.

Thanking the Ministry for giving him the task of producing these short yet extremely impactful films, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who has lately been seen in the role of a producer, said some of the films created more impact than even feature films.

“It helps to have young filmmakers from different States make films on different aspects of the country. So I told my employees to go back from where they came from and make short films. With the Internet reaching more and more homes, social networking sites have become a powerful tool of communication.”

Describing the short films as different from feature films, Anurag said they are precise and one has to sharpen them to create a bigger impact.

“These films have so much diversity and there is no pressure of recovery. I was asking someone how are we going to recover money from these films. In India everyone wants things for free. But these films are visually more appealing than the big films whose fate is decided every Friday. In 1991 I made a film which was lost. Thankfully, it resurfaced on YouTube. Therefore social networking sites have a bigger archive.”

He expressed the hope that these films will inspire more Indians to come forward to express themselves, make their presence felt and not to be taken for granted.

Some of the five films titled Hidden Cricket by Shlok Sharma, Geek Out by Vasan Bala, Moi Murjani by Anubhati Kashyap, Epiphany by Neeraj, Chai by Geetanjali Rao were screened on the occasion and will be promoted on You Tube as they highlight various aspirations and dreams of young India.

The short films also came in for praise from Mr. Khurshid who found one of them on the gentleman’s game so gripping that he declared that it could be discussed for weeks and months together.